Nitco's turbines in Dhule go on stream

Nitco Tiles has commissioned six wind turbines at Dhule which are expected to generate 7.2 kilo watt (kw) power.

These wind mills was set up at a cost of Rs 37.85 crore and funded by the proceeds of the company's recently concluded IPO. Power generated from these turbines will take care of the company's power requirements, company sources said.

"As power costs comprise a major portion of the total cost, the commissioning will result in savings of around Rs 5 crore a year," said Vivek Talwar, MD, Nitco Tiles.

The company would sell entire power produced to the state government at Dhule "� at Rs 3.50 per unit, with a 15 paise increment every year "� and buy the same amount of power for its plant at Alibaug at Rs 3 per unit, Talwar explained.

Meanwhile, Nitco has been granted the license to import 12,816 tonne of marble blocks under the new rough marble blocks import policy as against the 2,392 tonne allowed under the old policy, which is an increase of 535 per cent.

The company's new entitlement is more than 10 per cent of total licenses issued. This was due to the guidelines for import of rough marble blocks that were modified by Directorate of Foreign Trade (DGFT), ministry of commerce on August 30, 2005 being implemented now. The marble licenses have now been issued to all the eligible units based on the revised policy.

For the current financial year, the company is planning to expand its floor tile manufacturing capacity by 60 per cent at an investment of Rs 21 crore.

For wall tiles, it has plans to make a fresh investment of Rs 6 crore. At an investment of Rs 58 crore, the company is all set to increase its production capacity of its Alibaug plant to 22,000 square metres per day (sqmpd) and China plant to 20,000 sqmpd from the current 20,000 sqmpd.

Similarly, the company is also expanding its marble producing capacity from 3 lakh square feet per month to 5 lakh square feet per month in 2006-07. The company enjoys with 10 per cent market share in overall tiles market in the country.

Apart from the proposed expansion, the company is planning to consolidate its activities within its existing location at Silvassa for which it has already acquired 20 acres and talks are on to acquire 10 acres.